


Baggage Claim

by composersboy



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Disney World, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, strong language and references of alcoholism in later chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-05
Updated: 2015-03-17
Packaged: 2018-03-16 07:20:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3479336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/composersboy/pseuds/composersboy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a story about crossing social expectations, crossing fingers, crossing days off the calendar, crossing state lines, and having kisses laced with coffee and peppermint in an airport lobby; so long as fate will allow it to happen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. the Poison Apple

Taking a trip to a theme park before the calendar hit August may have been one of the worst decisions Axel had made in his life. He didn’t know what came over him to promise his company a meeting with Mickey Mouse before she entered middle school. If things had gone his way, the two of them would have been here last fall, when the air was much cooler in Orlando. Unfortunately, life had never worked out the way that he wanted, and although he could have used a few more months of saving up, he had no other choice than to shell out the money for Disney World as a pair of periwinkle eyes and worried lips warned him how she was about to enter the seventh grade.

   He wiped a sheen of sweat from his forehead with the back of his wrist as he pushed away his financial worries, watching a beaming face leap a few yards ahead of him to gesture at the Princess in the distance. It wasn’t as if he were in any immediate danger from the repercussions of this adventure, and even if he were, that smile was going to be worth it. Axel could ignore the bills he had on the counter at home, the blaring heat of the sun, and the aching his feet are surely going to have, all to give the girl a perfect first-time Disney experience. They were both  _locals,_  after all. The redhead was positive that they couldn’t be the only two people in Florida who hadn’t been before, but that sure didn’t stop him from feeling embarrassed for themselves because of it. 

   ”She’s going to have to take a break soon,” Axel reminded the young girl, putting a hand on her shoulder as he finally caught up to her. “We looked at the schedule before heading this way, don’t you remember? Get it memorized.”

   That didn’t seem to stop her from bouncing on her toes, pink and white sneakers practically glowing in the summer’s light. “I know, I know. But look at how beautiful she is, Axel! Are you sure we’re going to get to meet her before she goes home? I mean, for good?”

   ”Of course we’re going to meet her!” He moved his hand to her other shoulder in order to wrap her into a tight hug at his side. Axel directed a smug smile towards her, not that she could see it with a face full of his sun–heated shirt. “What kind of big brother would I be, if I let you leave here without a photo of you standing next to Belle?”

   Sure that his words would reassure her, he let her go to allow his sister to look up at him with a more than grateful expression. It only made him smile more, his heart twisting that way it always did, seeing such genuine happiness in her expression. Before he could manage to lose himself in the freckles or dimple on her face, he motioned to a separate direction from where they were previously admiring. “You know, I bet we can catch a shorter line of that mine train ride if we head over to it now. That looked like it could be a lot of fun, huh?”

   She agreed, of course, briefly forgetting about the woman in a golden gown to take Axel’s hand and haul him through the crowd. They ended up being just as lucky as they had hoped, and they found themselves weaving through a decent chunk of the start of the line––which was good for Axel, considering he didn’t think he could stand waiting in the direct sunlight for too long. The shade of the walls and occasional fans did wonders for him, and he was sure that Kairi was secretly grateful for his towering height to block most of the daylight from her small frame. Their wait truly began when they came up behind a group of teenagers, so the much older took the initiative to lean against the wall and ask his companion if she was enjoying herself. Her hands waved excitedly as she told him so, rattling off what her favorite moment had been so far, and she gave a thank you that had to have been her hundredth expression of gratitude that day. It was still fairly early in the afternoon, so he figured there was still an unquestionable amount of thanks yet to come. Axel gave her an airy chuckle and a ruffle to her dark red locks before pressing her for the details about the rest of her summer vacation.

   Axel had moved out of their parents' home almost as soon as he had walked for his high school diploma. Kairi had been only seven years old at the time, and as much as he would have preferred to stick around to help raise her, he knew that his chances at providing her with a future would do significantly better if he hauled himself off to college to earn himself a degree for an actual career. He made sure to check on her as often as he could during those years, which kept their relationship tight. Somebody had to be there for her. Kairi needed to know that there was an adult in her life that she could truly rely on, when their parents failed to meet the requirements. Their mother and father showed a considerably deeper interest in their daughter than they had him in his younger years, which was good, though they were far from making the Golden Parenting award. 

   He was glad to hear that she had been enjoying her vacation with little to no trouble. She was pretty much a teenager now, becoming more aware of her surroundings and situation, gaining independence, finding friends and ways to avoid unnecessary conflicts at home. Still, he’d become as involved in her life as he could make possible. She was the center of everything he did in his life, and juggling those four years of college, his part–time job (full, for the past year now), and dating had all come second. 

   She spoke confidently with a light in her eyes and exuberance she only showed in front of him or her closest friends. He imagined that if she weren't so enthusiastic about coming to this particular theme park, she would have been a lot more quiet, shy, timid, almost glued to his hip with her hands in one of his own when surrounded by a large crowd such as this one. His sister was telling him a story about a magical fruit she’d read about––something having to do with star shapes and destinies intertwining––when the girl squeaked in realization that their turn would be coming up next. It wasn’t just her, because similar ecstatic sounds came from the group of boys in front of them and the families behind them. Axel only glanced at the ones ahead of him briefly as their shouts and the seat arrangements they demanded drowned out his own sibling’s words, and he patted her on the back. “Do you wanna sit on the left or the right this time?”

   ”The right!” She always did. He didn’t even have to ask, but he had anyways, never tired of hearing her sweet voice. Axel gave a laugh, saying something like ‘of course’ that was drowned out by the music and surrounding crowd, and he followed her into position so that they could prepare for their car to come by.

   ”After this, we should get some ice cream,” the big brother offered, his eyes looking down the coaster’s tracks in order to spot the previous riders when they appeared. “I Googled to make sure they had sea salt. There’s no way I would have brought you here if they didn’t carry it anywhere. That’s a capital offense.”

   ”Why am I not surprised?” giggled the child. “Okay, we’ll get ice cream, but we  _better_  be getting in line for Belle after we’re done eating!”

   ”We’ll get in line while we’re  _still_ eating ice cream. How about that?”

   ”Deal!” And just then, one of the guys who had been standing in front of them leaned back with his elbow nearly connecting with Kairi’s head. Axel always had some pretty quick reflexes, and even if the guy’s joint didn’t actually injure his sister, he immediately reached out for her arms and pulled her closer to himself rather than the bar between her and the offender. 

   ”And you’re going to sit on the right, because you got the left on the last two coasters!” he was saying fairly loudly to whoever he was with. The boy had short black hair and some kind of dog pattern on his shirt, his back to the girl he wasn’t aware that he almost hit. Axel glared at the kid’s headband, quickly imagining how the guy would react to him snapping it against his skull, before dropping his gaze to his sister once more. Their ride was pulling up just then, so there were more important things to do than snap at some boy. A high schooler? Who really knew, because he didn’t look long enough to figure it out.

   Although, Axel would be lying if he said he wasn’t still planning on how to subtly get revenge as they climbed into the train car. He caught someone directing a “shut up, Pence!” at the dark–haired one as he and Kairi were buckling themselves in. A jolt tingled his spine as he realized the girl was asking him a question, and he pulled his mind out of whatever ride it had gotten on. “What was that?”

   ”I asked if you’re as excited as I am.”

   ”Oh, I am one hundred percent more excited than you are.”

   ”Nuh uh!” She started to giggle, which only made him smile. “No way! I am so much more excited than you are.”

   A voice went on over the speakers, a recording about keeping your hands and feet inside the ride and all that theme park business that Axel tended to ignore. If you’ve heard it once, you’d heard it a thousand times. Each ride always had the same warnings as the next. But he went silent anyway, taking Kairi’s hand to give it an expectant squeeze.

   The Seven Dwarves Mine Train was as much fun as the hype made it out to be. Both Kairi and Axel were laughing, intrigued by every turn, light, or song thrown into the mix. Highly impressed with the animatronics and other details, Axel had almost completely forgotten that one of the kids, who sat directly in front of him, hadn’t even apologized for nearly taking his sister’s head off. That is, until they slowed at the final bend and started to pass a small cottage that had Snow White and her stumpy friends dancing inside. At the other end of the display, the twenty–three–year–old man blinked in surprise when he realized that the ugly, old witch was displayed to be creeping on them outside their window. The boy who sat directly in front of Kairi, whom Axel could see out of the corner of his eyes through the gap in the seats, must not have seen her; as soon as a speaker displayed her ominous laughter, the blond leapt out of his skin with a high–pitched yelp. The sound caused ‘Pence’ to start laughing, which made their other friends ahead of them twist their heads around to exclaim, “Was that  _you_!?”

   Axel found his lip curling up in a smug smile. He hadn’t expected something like this to happen; however, it gave him the leverage he needed to bring up a conversation with these boys––and apparently, one girl––once they were back on their feet. His eyes followed them as they freed themselves from their restraints and headed towards the exit in a tightly knit, teasing group. Kairi seemed to notice he was distracted, because her brows pulled together in a frown, and she touched his wrist to get his attention. She had more likely than not tried to ask him what he thought about the ride, and he’d missed every word of it. “Axel?”

   ”Come with me.” He glanced at her before quickly following after the other kids. She stayed close to his heels as he shouldered through people. Once they were in the clear, the hot sun beating down on them once more, he cleared his throat: “So, which one of you girls squealed on the ride back there?”

   Whether it was the loud tone of his voice or the cockiness in his words that grabbed their attention, all four members of their gang stopped in their tracks. It was the blond who had sat in front of Kairi that was the first to turn around and inspect the person who had clearly been directing his words at them. Axel, who was way too old to be messing with kids that looked like they still belonged in high school; Axel, who was being more petty than anyone in the vicinity; Axel, who was suddenly speechless, met a gaze with the bluest eyes he had ever seen.

   It took him a second too long to realize that the kid was just  _glaring_  at him, with every right, too. After all, he had just made a douche out of himself in the middle of the Happiest Place on Earth. He didn’t notice as the others had turned to face him as well, not even aware of the one called Pence, as the Holy Grail of Sapphires snapped, “You got somethin’ to say about it?”

   All it took were two seconds for the redhead to gather up his thoughts, his expression not faltering once. If anything, his smirk only deepened at their reactions. One of his hands perched on his slender hip, while the other raised to wave back and forth in front of his nose. “ _Please_ , don’t get a wedgie over it, kiddo. It was kind of cute.”

   Cute? The word seemed to hang in the thick, hot air, reflecting across their faces, and the kids looked back and forth between each other for a moment. Axel took a subconscious note of Kairi watching the scene in silence, before getting another response from the blond. “And what about you, Mufasa? How did you enjoy your journey through the mines?”

   ”I think the operators might have to reconsider who they’re calling the Fairest of Them All, because my head matched every one of those rubies they had inside. That Snow White’s lipstick doesn’t live up to her reputation.” His fingers ran through his rather long hair as he spoke, the spikes surprisingly soft, regarding the style it held. Instead of inspecting his own firetruck tips, though, he was taking in the look of the other kid’s mane. His golden hair was wildly swept to the side, and Axel wasn’t sure if the style was intentional or if the cowlick was formed through the duration of the ride. 

   The other blond, only taller, with a paler look and brown eyes, seemed to sniff in distaste at the comment. “Come on, guys, let’s get out of here.”

   ”Now, hold up.” Axel held up a finger to him, his words being said to the whole group. “Don’t you think there ought to be a reason why I stopped you in the first place?”

   It was Deep Blue Sea who spoke up first. “Does this have to do with me scre–”

   ”No, no, no, no,” the man interrupted with yet another wave, putting another hand over Kairi’s shoulder. “Your friend there nearly elbowed my sister in the head. I believe you owe her an apology.”

   They didn’t have to ask who, because Axel’s eyes were focused directly on Pence. He shrunk a little on himself, one hand scratching at the back of his raven–colored hair. “Oh, uh… whoops?”

   ”It’s really okay, Axel.” Kairi looked up at him with that sweet, precious smile of hers. Man, wouldn’t he kill just to see that face every day of his life. “He didn’t actually hit me, so it’s all right.”

   ”Kairi, I don’t know what they’re teaching in high school nowadays, but I want to show you that manners are important, even when you’re as old as they are.”

   ”What about when we’re as old as  _you_?” the third boy snipped, which sparked an elbow to the side by the single girl they appeared to be hanging out with.

   ”Hayner, he’s right,” she said sternly. “If Pence almost hurt her, he should tell her that he’s sorry.”

   ”Yeah,” Pence agreed, bashful. “I’m sorry about that… Kairi, was it? I should be paying more attention to what I’m doing.”

   ”It’s okay,” the young one repeated. She took hold of Axel’s fingers before starting to bounce on the toes of her sneakers. “We should go get that ice cream of yours, so we can get in line for Belle!”

   ”Well, hey, how about I make up for what I did?” Pence began to offer, as he held up the digital camera he had hanging around his neck. “If you’re going to see Belle, we can swing by and I’ll take a picture of the two of you with her. What do you say?”

   Saying that the option excited Kairi would be an understatement. She practically squealed, pulling on her older brother’s fingers hard enough that he had to bend slightly. “Yes!! Yes, yes, Axel, please? We haven’t taken a single photo together, and we’ve been here all morning!”

   Even if he wanted to get out of this situation, there would be no telling her no after that. He gave a small squeeze to the hand before smirking back at the teenagers. “You heard her. I better see you there, or you’re gonna be faced with the tears of a very unhappy twelve–year–old. Trust me, if you know what’s good for you, you won’t disappoint her.”

   ”Right. We promise we’ll see you soon.”

   ”Catch ya later, kids.” Using the leverage he had on his sister’s shoulder, Axel wheeled Kairi around towards the other direction, and the two of them began walking off together. “Come on, that sea salt is calling my name.”

   ”Axel, you’re going to get fat if you keep eating so much ice cream!”

   ”Hey, it’s nearly a hundred degrees out here! You can’t blame me for indulging every once in a while!” Now that his sister was laughing, revved up to eat some junk food followed by a Meet–and–Greet with her favorite Disney princess, Axel turned to look over his shoulder at the four teenagers they were talking to moments ago. More particularly, he was seeking out the short one with hair like gold. Each of the kids had taken off in a similar direction to himself, already absorbed in a new conversation among themselves. All except for that boy who had cried out during the mine train ride, because his intense blue eyes happened to be looking right back into Axel’s gaze.

* * *

   It wasn’t until Axel and his kid sister had finished off their ice cream, closing in on their turn to say hello to the woman disguised as the Princess from The Beauty and the Beast, that he noticed the sudden reappearance of those four young kids from the mine train ride. And, if he were being honest with himself, he didn’t recall them so much as he recognized their heads in the nearby distance. He hardly had time for a wave before the delighted squeals of a little girl announced that their turn was  _right now_  and her patience couldn’t be tested any longer. His eyes briefly caught Pence wiggling his camera with a sense of confirmation as he followed through with a short, delighted exchange with Belle and Kairi. By then, the kid had stepped close enough with the camera to his face that it was more than obvious he was there for the sake of photographing the two redheads. They exchanged glances, Axel giving a small dip of his chin, before putting his hand on the middle of the Disney Princess’s back. He turned his head to catch Kairi absolutely beaming at the camera, and he was smiling down at her before he could realize he was doing it in the first place.

   Up until this point, he didn’t think the day could have gotten any more perfect. Unless, of course, the sun and the awful Florida heat would tone it down a couple notches. Or they could have been graced with a single cloud in the sky. If Axel could afford to take his sister here in the future, there was no way the girl could convince him to bring her until late fall or early spring. He had spent plenty of time in his younger years cursing his parents for never packing it up and leaving for a state with a cooler climate, and over the years, he never seemed to get used to Orlando’s weather conditions and humidity. He didn’t often come across somebody who disliked it as much as he did, either. The man was very much alone in his abhorrence for the state.

   Putting that out of his mind, he flashed his teeth in Pence’s direction. He focused entirely at the camera so as not to mess up his best chance at getting a good shot with his little sister. Even if the photos did turn out horribly, he knew that she would treasure them above any other material object she could own, and he would be damned to have her waving around a picture of him that he didn’t look good in. He would be sure to put a chunk of coal, fresh off the grill, into his mouth before he would allow that to happen.

   After a few snaps, some shifting as Pence went from shooting portrait to landscape, he was giving a thumbs up and the three models relaxed to separate and bid each other farewell. Kairi was sure to give Belle one last, great big hug before scampering out of line and making a beeline for their photographer and the other teenagers he was with.

   ”Did you get it? Did you get a picture!?” she had started to ask before coming to a stop in front of him. Now she hopped up and down, hands balled up into expectant fists, her eyes shining and her smile stretching from one ear to the other. Her older brother followed behind at much more casual pace.

   ”I got way more than one!” Pence was putting down his camera and letting out a lighthearted laugh at the small girl’s excitement.

   She gave a little squeal at that, and by the time she was done, Axel had caught up with her. He held up a hand in greeting, palm facing the others, “Yo. Long time no see.”

   ”Hey,” the boy replied, brown eyes warm as he moved his gaze from Kairi to her older sibling, “So, did you want to take a look at them first? Tell me what you think?"

"Nah, that's all right." Axel gave Kairi a gentle nudge with his hip. "It'll be one, big surprise for us when we get to see them in full resolution."

"Yeah, yeah!" The little agreed immediately, glancing at the other redhead for only a moment, then her gaze was fixed on Pence once again.

"All right! Why don’t I give you my number and we can trade messages about me getting the pictures to you?”

   ”Sounds good.” He was pulling his phone out of his pocket and was already handing it out toward Pence when a sudden, exasperated tone from a third party froze the two boys in their tracks.

   ”Nuh–uh. No way!” Hayner was crinkling his nose in clear distaste at the notion. “You want to give some random guy that you just met your  _number_? You don’t know anything about him. What if he’s a stalker?”

   ”Why would I have offered to take their pictures if I wasn’t going to show ‘em to them?” Pence was frowning at him as if the answer were all too obvious; although, there seemed to be a bit of hesitance in his eyes as he shot the retort at his friend. He had been about to take the phone from Axel, yet now his hand was falling back to his side. Olette didn’t look any less shifty as she clasped her hands behind her back and rocked on the heels of her shoes. The girl was gently biting on her lower lip, thoughtful, unwilling to offer up any of her information, either.

   ”Then you should have thought about it before you offered.”

   ”He has a little sister! Do you think she would have come here with him if he was some kind of psycho?”

   ”That’s exactly what he wants you to think.”

   ”You’re crazy.”

   ”How do you know that’s even his sister?”

   Olette kicked at the ground as she started to speak up. “Come on, Hayner, everybody knows that’s a far fetched accusation. No one has ever been kidnapped from Disney World, and no guy would spend that much money on a girl he  _stole_  to bring her here.”

   One of Axel’s thin, red brows quirked up at the teenagers, unimpressed. He shared a quick glance with Kairi and could tell from her expression that she was about ready to beg on her knees if it meant that they would get to have these photos in their possession. As immature, unnecessary, and obnoxious as the situation may be, the last thing he needed right now was to have his sister’s day ruined by some overly cautious punk in camo pants. His lips parted as he prepared to interrupt the conversation, offer money, or something to get them to at least settle on leaving him an email to contact, yet someone else had already beaten him to the punch. The other blond, the one with the insanely bright blue eyes, let out a heavy, exasperated breath while reaching forward to grab at Axel’s phone: “You guys are being ridiculous. I’m not going to sit here and fight about it. Here, I’ll give you my number and I can send you the pictures after we’ve gotten back home.”

   Even with the other kids giving their friend mixed glances (Olette rather unsurprising, Hayner obviously wanting to protest, and Pence somewhat relieved), Axel handed over the mobile device to the boy. He didn’t waste any time pulling open a fresh memo and adding some numbers into it. Axel tried to watch for the other’s facial expression, but the blond’s bangs were covering his eyes while his head was down, fingers moving, and it wasn’t until he had saved and started to return the cell that his gaze finally met the redhead’s own. 

   Blue. It was the first word that came to his mind, not exactly popping into his head but more so that he felt like he had suddenly taken a dive into the middle of the ocean, the waves crashing over his head, and he found himself figuratively drowning in a chill, endless sea of that one, specific color. A shiver passed through Axel’s body, starting at the base of his neck and traveling down his spine, his arm hairs prickling as if he weren’t directly beneath the blazing sun or standing out in weather above ninety degrees. They were just _right there_ , only a few inches away from his face, bright, stunning, and he most certainly had seen nothing comparable ever in his life. Having looked at this kid in the eye a short while ago didn’t measure up to being this close in vicinity. He found himself petrified, for lack of a better word, doing nothing other than gawking and silently praying that he didn’t look as tense or stupid as he felt. It was sort of like getting hit in the face by a basketball during gym class––only, if the ball were really soft, inviting, and wasn't able to break your nose. Okay, it wasn't anything like that at all. However, if this boy seemed to notice any change in Axel's behavior, he didn’t move or make any mention of it.

   ”For the record,” the kid broke the silence by saying, “we aren’t in high school anymore. The four of us graduated back in May.”

   ”Oh?” Axel couldn’t help himself from giving the guy a smirk after he recovered his composure. The kid almost sounded insistent. He had probably been looking for the opportunity to spring this information on him ever since they first started talking in front of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ride. But hey, he wasn’t about to complain about the new information handed to him. If Hayner wanted to call the police on false accusations about him ‘creeping’ on them, he at least didn’t have the excuse of them being minors to back up his threat. Of course, he knew that they didn’t have anything to worry about in the first place. The idea that he was some kind of preying weirdo was insane. “This has gotta be your senior trip, then?”

   ”Yeah. We’d been wanting to do this since we were sophomores.”

   ”I can’t say I know many guys who would plan something like this, kiddo.” Not straight ones, at least, although he wasn’t going to say that last bit out loud.

   ”Don’t call me ‘kiddo.’ I’m eighteen.” It was clear that he was trying to make a point about his maturity in question by the way he was acting so indignant. That, or he was at least determined to prove to Axel that he wasn’t as young as the redhead had initially thought. Whatever the case, he found his persistence to be quite entertaining. 

   ”Whatever you say, Short Stuff.”

   He gave a displeased snort at that, looking tempted to snap something back before Olette was reaching forward to touch his shoulder for her friend’s attention. His top didn’t happen to have any sleeves, and her fingers were pale against his tanned skin.

   ”Hey, we have that Fastpass, remember? We should start heading over before we miss it.”

   ”Right,” he said to her, then turned his attention back to the redhead. “I guess I’ll be talking to you later.”

   ”I guess you will.”

   He thought that the boy still looked like he had something to say, with the way he hesitated to turn on his heels. His friends had already started to walk along ahead of him, his eyes lingering back at the man he just gave his phone number to, then he picked up his feet to catch up with the others. Axel waved at the blond and his friends before deciding he ought to look at what had been inputt on his phone. He swiped a thumb over the screen to unlock it and the memo the boy had saved was still pulled open for him to see. Axel ticked off the numbers a couple times in his head, immediately recognizing the area code as one that wasn’t from around here. The source of the numbers was unknown to him, but it was a separate vital fact that had him jolting. There were ten digits in the memo just as there should be, except there hadn’t been a single other thing put down into the note. There wasn't an email, Facebook, not so much as a...

   ”Hey!” his head shot up as he called after the kids, vaguely hearing a ‘what now?’ from Hayner as they turned. It was a good thing he had decided to make sure there wasn't anything absurd put in place instead of an actual contact, because these kids were just seconds away from not being able to hear his shouting, “you didn’t give me your name!”

   The boy gave a knowing, smug smile in response. Clearly, the lack of information he passed on to Axel was entirely intentional. It kinda made him want to grab the boy by the shoulders and shake him until he confessed as to what it was, and it kinda made him want to give him a congratulatory pat on the back for thinking of something so sneaky. Under circumstances in which Axel were hitting on someone, giving away his digits with the intent of romantic purposes, he would have taken a similar approach. Of course, there wasn't any evidence that this blondie was doing it for those very reasons. More likely than not, he was only trying to come off as looking like some sort of smooth bad-ass rather than the five–foot, baby–faced teenager that he really was. Perhaps it was all one, big show for the friends that were too shy or suspicious to take that leap and give out their personal scoop. “Guess you’ll have to text me to find out.”

   Axel found himself speechless anyhow, for the first time in a very long while. He ran his tongue along the bottom of dry lips and watched as the four turned back around for the final time, starting to disappear into the distance. As Hayner was starting to say, “Dude, that was a little…” to his blond friend, they were already too far out of earshot for him to catch the rest of his sentence. He stood staring at their backs until Kairi was slipping her fingers around his own and was using her weight to drag him along in the opposite direction.

   ”Come on, Ax. Let’s get on another ride.”

   ”What? Oh, right. Right." He had always had a knack for quick recovery. Years of practice, he supposed, after having gone through his younger, most awkward years already. "Of course we’re going on another ride. I bet you’d like that Under the Sea thing over there. I heard a bunch of girls earlier saying that they loved it.”

He raised an index finger to point in the direction up ahead of them, emphasizing to show her what he was talking about. Her big, periwinkle eyes followed the direction and squinted as she tried to make out the details past bodies much taller than herself and buildings that blocked their path. None of which stopped her from oozing with the same electric energy she had in her since the moment he had picked her up from home that morning. Axel wondered if she had even gone to bed that night, picturing her kicking her little feet beneath her covers, staring at the ceiling of her blackened bedroom, her heart hammering and ready to burst as she imagined walking through the front of the Magic Kingdom gates after the sun came back up.

   ”Okay! Let’s hurry. I don’t wanna wait too long in line!” She was nearly dragging him now, and he had to catch himself before falling forward and scraping his chin on the asphalt. After regaining his balance, lucky enough not to have tripped, he glanced back at where the blond and his friends had been. They were nowhere in sight, swallowed by the crowd, unseen from Axel during the rest of the day and well after dark. Fireworks had already lit up the night sky as he carried the sleepy preteen across the parking lot, set her in the passenger side of his car, and drove to drop her off at their parents' house before returning to the apartment he called home.


	2. Ink

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After a little delay of kitty snuggles and unplanned sickness, I bring you chapter two. The next one will introduce our spiky blond's side of the story, so stay tuned!

Axel had spent the next couple of days doing nothing except for accomplishing mediocre chores and taking his usual shifts at the office where he worked. It wasn’t as if the man had other options if he wanted, because the friends he’d had in school had their own full–time jobs. Usually, nobody tried to contact him unless it were a Friday night or a Saturday. Everybody whom he spoke to regularly knew that he had spent time with his sister, and his phone remained relatively quiet, even after he had slipped inside the front door of his apartment that Tuesday, closing it, leaning against it briefly while he rubbed tiredly at his eyes.

A small sigh left him as he kicked off his shoes, loosened his tie, and found a comfortable space to relax before he would have to get himself something to eat. He always felt this exhausted immediately after coming home, even though his job wasn’t anything particularly hard. It wasn’t anything difficult, but it was also dragging, boring, a little out of his interest, sometimes too stressful to be worth the trouble…

There were better things to be doing than crying over something he knew that he couldn’t change. One benefit of working nine to five in an office five days out of the week, he was paid decent, and it was something he could live with for now.

Dinner was a couple of frozen burritos he had covered in cheese and sour cream, which he ate by himself at his little wooden dinner table. Nothing special, no one to cook for, and the motivation to cook something more healthy for himself only existed a few days out of the week.

The sound of his phone ringing snapped him out of the hazy routine of thoughts he had fallen into. He tore his eyes away from his empty plate and fished through his pocket to get out his phone before he missed the call. Axel immediately brightened at the name displayed on the screen and didn’t waste another moment hitting the talk button and putting the cell to his ear. “Kairi?”

”Did you do it yet?” Not even bothering with a hello; she almost never did. He blinked in regard to her question and wondered what she could possibly be talking about. Had he gotten home from work? She knew what time he got home each night, unless he happened to be staying late on rare occasion. Could she be asking if he had eaten dinner yet? Did she want to know if he had finally scrubbed his toilet for the first time in a month?

”You’re going to have to be more specific than that.”

”Did you get those pictures from that guy at Disney? Duh!”

The memory came back to him all at once. He was left with his jaw hanging open as he thought about the newly graduated teenagers he and his sister had spoken with a few days ago. That was right: one of them, some kid named Pence, had taken some shots of them with one of the princesses. It had been one of the highlights of the entire Magic Kingdom experience, which made it a mystery as to how far the memory had been pushed out of his mind that day. It would have made much more sense of him to have spent the day leisurely going through the events of the trip through his head than to have gotten so distracted by trivial things like typing on a computer, bouncing his leg with irritation of sitting still for so many hours, or having the same dull conversation with his coworkers.

”Oh. Uh… about that…”

”Don’t tell me you forgot about it!”

”No, no. I didn’t forget.” He tiredly raked fingers through his hair, suppressing a sigh. Axel wasn’t lying entirely, because he really hadn’t _meant_ to neglect to reach out to the kid until today. “They were on a vacation, Kai. If I had tried to talk to them Sunday, or even yesterday, they might not have been home yet. I’ll send the kid a text tonight.”

”You promise?”

”Promise. I’ll do it as soon as I get off the phone with you.”

”Okayyy.” There was a rustling on her end, the word getting softer for a moment, as she was probably moving the phone from one of her ears to the other. “I already cleared out a picture frame so I could put one in there. It’s going to sit right beside my bed, where I can look at it as I’m falling asleep. Do you think you’ll be able to come by tomorrow and show them to me?”

“I can swing by as soon as I’m done with work, but don’t blame me if he doesn’t answer right away. He might not get back to me tonight. I can’t remember a single time that I checked my email at his age.”

There was a giggle on the other end of the line, and that brought a smile back onto Axel’s face as she started to speak again: “You say that like you’re some kind of old man.”

“I _feel_ old! Wait until you’re an adult, and you’ll understand exactly what I’m talking about.”

“Yeah, right! You still act almost the same as you did before you moved away from home.”

“Now you’re starting to sound like Saix.”

“No! He’s way too mean. I don’t know how you can stand being friends with him when he’s always saying rude things to y—…” She faltered suddenly, and there was the familiar, muffled voice of their mother in the background. Kairi had the mouth piece away from her, so her response was just as inaudible as the other person’s was, but then she was quickly speaking back into the receiver again. “I’m gonna have to go. Dinner’s ready.”

“Then run along, squirt, before I give you a really long speech about the importance of friendship, and how Saix says the things that he does out of endearment, not out of the intent to hurt my feelings.”

“That sounds painful. Okay, I’m going. Text that boy! Do it as soon as you hang up the phone.”

“I will!” he assured her with a laugh. “Consider it already done. Now go eat before Mom has a cow.”

“Goodnight, Axel. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Love you, kid.” He waited for his sister to hang up first, listening to the way she chuckled so lightly whenever he told her that. It had him smiling still, until he began to flip through the mass of icons he had on his phone, brows furrowed together, bottom lip turned out in a small pout. He was convinced that the kid from Disney World had found where to create a memo quicker on his phone that he ever could. Most of the apps were for things that the guy had never used and would never use, and he noted how annoying smart phones were as he finally found the utilities. There, at the top of the small list, a number looked back at him. He felt a little familiarity at it from when he had briefly studied it at the park, and now he repeated it to himself to input it to a text message.

Axel: _This the kid who’s friends with a guy named Pence?_

He ran his thumb over the buttons of his phone without actually pressing down on any of them, looking over his message, wondering if he should sit here and wait for a response or do something productive while he waited. Younger kids usually replied very quickly to their texts while adults or parents were prone to ignoring their cell phones most of the time. Then again, staring at your phone and waiting for a complete stranger to answer you was weird on all kinds of levels.

(206) xxx–xxxx: _uh, yeah. who is this?_

Axel perked at the sound of his text tone. He promptly dropped his dirty dishes in the sink before flopping back down onto the couch and pulling open the reply. His thumb hovered over the buttons like they had minutes ago, tapping slightly, answering the question and then hitting send a few moments after that.

Axel: _Axel Solberg. Your friend took some pictures of my sister and I at Disney._

The reply didn’t come any quicker from the other end than it had the first time.

(206) xxx–xxxx: right. _i was starting to wonder if you were ever going to text me._

Axel: _It’s only Tuesday._

Axel: _This IS Baby Blue, right? You didn’t slip me a different number just to be funny?_

(206) xxx–xxxx: _you mean, did i give you hayners number? nah. he wouldnt have answered even if i had._

Hayner. He had forgotten what the stickler’s name was, though his image was still fresh in Axel’s mind. The boy had been the least friendly one out of the bunch, curly, bright blond hair slicked back away from his face, dark eyes, and a scowl on his face. He imagined that the boy had come out of the womb looking that way.

Axel: _Is he always that prickly, or am I just lucky?_

(206) xxx–xxxx: _hes just protective. you cant really blame him, though, when some talking skyscraper comes up to you out of nowhere?_

Axel: _I think I know what you would do in that situation, at least._

The pause after that lasted well a couple minutes. Perhaps the kid had just gotten busy with whatever he was doing at the time, or maybe he wasn’t sure how to continue on in the conversation. It wasn’t as if forming a friendship had been a requirement in getting a couple photos off of the other's friend. The boy could have just asked him for his email, and Axel wouldn’t have been offended if he hadn’t wanted to talk. But his text tone hit his ears then, just before he could start to dwell too deeply on the matter.

(206) xxx–xxxx: _are those real tattoos underneath your eyes? we have a bet going._

Axel: _A bet, huh? What’s at stake, here?_

(206) xxx–xxxx: _olette doesnt think theyre real. pence and i think shes wrong. if she is, she owes us a box of ice cream bars all to ourselves._

Axel: _That’s it? Just ice cream?_

(206) xxx–xxxx: _well, we did just go to disney world. if we bet her out of any more money she isnt going to be able to feed herself when classes start in the fall._

Axel: _How kind of you._

Axel: _You’re in luck. They’re real._

(206) xxx–xxxx: _I knew it._

(206) xxx–xxxx: _ok, now i gotta know the story behind them. why did you ink your face?_

Axel: _Are kids your age really that blunt nowadays?_

Another pause.

(206) xxx–xxxx: _sorry. you dont have to tell me if you dont want._

Axel found himself smiling down at the message. The boy wasn’t close to him in any way; they were still foreign to each other, and it was that reason that he wasn’t used to Axel’s type of teasing or humor in general. He must have taken his last reply more seriously than it was at all intended. The man was used to getting the question, though. You couldn’t expect to get two purple, diamond–shaped, teardrop–sized tattoos put on your cheeks and not get asked about it. He had known since the day he walked into the shop to get them done that he was going to have to live with other people’s curiosity.

Axel: _It’s kind of a long story. How about you send me those pictures, and I’ll explain after I’ve gotten your email?_

(206) xxx–xxxx: _okay! let me boot up my laptop and i can do that right away._

It was then that the redhead truly began to wonder as to what it was the boy on the other end of the line could be doing right now. If he was only just picking up his laptop, firing it up, having been unused just a few moments ago, then he was most likely sitting at home. There was a possibility that the teen was from this side of the coast, and it was after six in the afternoon, or he could be somewhere in the middle of the States. Maybe he and his friends weren’t from America at all, and they had visited from a nearby country like Canada? Axel could easily Google the area code, but that would definitely be creepy, not that sitting around daydreaming about this stranger wasn’t weird in itself. They really were strangers, which reminded him to ask…

Axel: _You ever going to tell me your name, kiddo?_

(206) xxx–xxxx: _are you going to stop calling me that when i do?_

Axel: _I can’t make any promises._

The great thing about passing text messages between someone is that you could still use both of your hands to do other tasks while waiting for a response. He figured he had better get back to washing off his dish before it got too late, and he pocketed the phone and retreated into his little kitchen. Axel wasn’t able to hear his text tone over the sound of rushing water, but he felt the vibration of an incoming text against his thigh as he was finishing scrubbing off his plate and setting it inside of the dishwasher. He hummed to himself, drying off his hands, reaching into his pocket, swiping the screen unlocked, and then blinking in confusion at the single word that stared back at him.

Roxas?

What kind of weird word… Oh, wait a second…

Axel: _Did it take you three days to come up with that one?_

(206) xxx–xxxx: _im serious!! thats my name. Roxas Overland._

Axel: _That doesn’t sound any less made up. I feel like you stole that off of a movie screen’s end credits the last time you’d gone to a theater._

(206) xxx–xxxx: _ass._

Now that sounded a lot more like the kid he had met at the amusement park. He was a little surprised that the boy hadn’t picked up his teasing earlier, considering the sharp tongue he had displayed during their first exchange with each other. Axel could still picture that fire in his remarkably blue eyes when he had assumed that the guy had meant to pick a fight with him. 

(206) xxx–xxxx: _so, whats your email?_

He sent Roxas his address while sitting down at his little dining room table, opening up his own laptop and moving a finger around the touchpad to get it to wake back up from its slumber. He clicked lazily, typed slowly for the sake of it, and was able to pull up his messaging account a few minutes later. Axel’s phone received a new text as soon as his eyes lay on the newest message in his inbox, one with the subject title ‘Pictures’ and a sender’s name that was none other than Roxas Overland. It seemed like the kid hadn’t been making up his name, after all.

Figuring his newest text was the boy telling him that he had sent the photos, he ignored his cell phone and opened up the email on his laptop screen. Pence hadn't been lying when he told Kairi that he had taken "a lot more than one" picture, because there were multiple image attachments in the file. Clicking the first link, Axel blinked in surprise at seeing a candid shot from before he and his sister had been posing for the camera. His body was leaning a little forward, one foot kicked back, his head down and to the side so that he could smile at the small redhead who stood on Princess Belle's other side. He was unmistakably beaming, giving the child a more adoring look than even Kairi had for getting to be this close to her favorite character. Convinced that he had never been captured in such a raw moment involving his sibling, even he had to admit that it was rather precious. He carefully inspected each photo after that, warmly taking in his sister's expression with each shot before he got around to copying them.

His printer sat to the side, on a chair against the door. The machine wasn’t anything fancy, nothing that would print in the form of an actual photograph, but it had colored ink and was certain to get the job done. After plugging it into his laptop, it only took a couple clicks to get the printer whirring to life, lights flashing, and the images filed out one after the other until they lay together in a pile. Axel took another couple of minutes to admire them, flipping through them, scanning every detail until he laid them all down to the side. He still had a story to tell Roxas, after all, and he closed out of the photos he had opened up in order to hit the reply button with his cursor.

_You wanna know the story behind my tattoos? All righty, then. Buckle yourself up for a stupidly embarrassing story about a ginger who just had his eighteenth birthday. It all started one obnoxiously hot Florida afternoon…_


End file.
